Labels. No matter how much we want to shy away from them, it’s a way of life. Collectively, they help us define who we are and separately, they each contain a snippet of a facet of our lives and personalities.

When I first started my photography business, my logo was hanssie trainor: photography. Even back then I knew I could not be contained under one label, hence the colon. (The colon is used before a list or an explanation that is preceded by a clause that can stand by itself) and I knew that photography was just one thing that defined who I was. And now after 3+ years in the business, I’ve evolved and come full circle, back to using the colon to help define who I am – a multi faceted, ever changing person, that wears many hats and has many life experiences.

This blog has always been about my life but with a focus on my photography, but now, there will be a shift to focus more on my journey in the "IN BETWEEN" from my former life as a wife and mother to life as a single gal and single mom living life passionately under my own terms with photography thrown in as well. I'm just a girl trying to figure things out and deal with baggage and confusion in the dating world. I'm putting it all out there --the good, the bad and the ugly. I hope you’ll join me for the ride.

I'm kissing a lot of frogs..and blogging about it.

(P.S. Yes, I am still commissioning for fashion/editorial work and for weddings/ portraits)

[Since I still can't figure out why this blog won't let me upload pictures, this post is picture-less. But I have something to say and as usual, it's itching to come out of me...]

What’s the cost of being kind?

One of my tasks as Managing Editor of SLR Lounge is to moderate comments on our sites. This means daily sifting through lots and lots of opinions from people hiding behind the screen, which invariably destroys any filter that they may use in real life. And though I am a proponent of saying how you feel about something, standing up for what you believe in and having opinions, I do not condone the people who feel like they can do it by being an a*hole.

Words are powerful.

It’s cliche, I know. But true. If you have been given the gift of language and the ability to speak, be it a voice online or a voice in person, use it accordingly.

In the photo industry, people feel that it is okay to just tear someone apart for pictures they post. Why? Would you say that to their face? Even if the answer is yes, why?

Oh…that looks Photoshopped. What a terrible picture, you should’ve done this…this and this and it would’ve been soooo much better. This article was useless…and on and on it goes.

Is there a way you can say it nicely? I know, I know, I sound like a mom here, but jeez. It takes just as much effort to be a jerk as it is to be kind. These people are called trolls for a reason.

If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

Some days, I deal with some real tools. I don’t know who they are because they are too cowardly to use their real name when they comment. It leaves me shaking my head. And not just in the work world, but even random day to day stuff. I read a book last night called, “Heaven is for Real.” It’s about a little boy who had a near death experience and went to heaven. He came back and told some incredible stories. Is it true? I dunno, who am I to judge if someone’s near death experience is true? I enjoyed the book, it had some inspirational things I could take away and I am glad I read it. So I decided to put it on my virtual GoodReads bookshelf. (If you don’t know what GoodReads is, it’s for geeky people who love books so much we must have a virtual bookshelf). And as with all things that have any slight religious bent to them, had a large list of comments debating the book. Among the most vocal and jerky comments were people being rude and Bible thumping. (Urgh, don’t get me started on that rant. Been there…). If you didn’t like the book, then say, “I didn’t like the book and here’s why…” Is it absolutely necessary to be an a*hole about it – I read comments where people were mocking the little boy for the color of shirt he was wearing on an interview. Get.a.life.

Just because you are typing something virtually and pretty much anonymously doesn’t give you free reign to just spout off. Some people need to just shut their mouths and use the airspace around them better instead of polluting the world (and the world wide web) around them.

So, as you might have noticed, I haven’t blogged in a while. That is not for lack of trying.

Something is wrong with my blog and it won’t let me load any photos, so while I have been trying to post some photo centric stuff, I am unable to…and since I just posted a few rants, I figure I should spare you the soapbox for a bit.

Except for this post. Where I want to not only rant about WordPress, but I want to throw my laptop out the window. The laptop that killed it’s power cord, suddenly turns off in the middle of tasks and the one that will take 5 days at the Genius Bar to “maybe” fix. UGH.